The National Front protesters were surrounded by counter-protesters chanting "refugees are welcome, racists are not", and chased back to the railway station.

Some small fights broke out but police quickly intervened before anything serious could occur, surrounding the protesters and escorting them away.

Ms Gaharaman spoke to the assembled crowd and thanked them for taking part in the protest, using her experience as a human rights lawyer overseas to condemn racism.

"I would like to thank you for being here today and standing with the people who are voiceless, who have been silenced, who have all of that internalised self-hate that comes with knowing that you live in a community where race supremacy still exsists, where people tell us that we're not 'Kiwi enough'," she said

"I am uniquely placed to tell you how those things start, how a genocide starts - I've had to investigate that.

"It starts like this, it starts with dehumanising language, it starts with an idea of, you know, second-class citizens - it's dangerous."

After the protest, she tweeted: "So-life affirming to stand with Marama Davidson and all the others who stood strong for our values: equality, inclusion and diversity".